Nico Rosberg is under investigation by the stewards at the Monaco Grand Prix after taking to the escape road at Mirabeau at the end of qualifying. bringing out yellow flags.

Mercedes team-mate and rival for pole position Lewis Hamilton was behind Rosberg on a quicker lap and had to slow for the yellows or face a penalty himself. Hamilton backed off and as a result Rosberg's first lap in Q3 was enough to keep pole.

"That's the whole reason I had a banker [lap], so I just tried to push that little bit more and pushed over the edge," he said.

He added: "I thought it was over once that happened, I thought the track would ramp up and somebody would beat it. I'm sorry for what happened to Lewis. I didn't know where exactly he was. It's not great, but that's the way it is…"

The incident has shades of Michael Schumacher's controversial qualifying lap in 2006, when he secured provisional pole and hit the barriers at La Rascasse. Rosberg's incident looked much more like a genuine error but is being investigated by the stewards nonetheless.